Rgan pipe assembly

ABSTRACT

A bamboo organ pipe assembly including a foot airtightly inserted into a bamboo tubular pipe, the foot having an air passage formed therein for directing air supplied from the outer end thereof toward a peripheral portion of the pipe, and wherein there is fixed on the peripheral portion of the pipe a member having a recess therein communicating with the air passage of the foot for receiving the air therefrom. The bamboo tubular pipe is provided with a mouth or aperture through a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of the foot inserted thereinto, and the recess formed in the member terminates in a slit defined by a languid and a lower lip, the slit being adapted to direct a sheet of air toward a peripheral edge of the mouth of the tubular pipe to produce a tone. The member preferably is formed of a pair of tapered boards, one of which is slidable relative to the other, and the tubular pipe preferably has an adjustable vane therein for adjusting the pitch of the tone.

ited States Patent Kita 51 June 20, 1972 [s41 BAMBOO ORGAN PIPE ASSEMBLY FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS [72] Inventor: Hldghlko Kit, Hamamamu, Japan 382,907 I l/ i932 Great Britainm ..84/349 [73] Assignee: Nippon Gakld Seizo Knbllhlkl Kalshe, p Emmin" stephen Tomsky shlluoka'kem Japan Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin 22 1 Filed Feb. I8, 1971 F'ishauf [2|] Appl. No.: 116,485 ABSTRACT I A bamboo organ pipe assembly including a foot airtightly in- F I Prim DI" serted into a bamboo tubular pipe, the foot having an air [30] n Appuuuon 1 passage formed therein for directing air supplied from the Feb. 23; I970 Japan ..45/l 7l34 outer end thereof toward a peripheral portion of the pipe, and wherein there is fixed on the peripheral portion of the pipe at 2 0 4 349 member having a recess therein communicating with the air 51] Int Cl. Glob 3/08 passage of the foot for receiving the air therefrom. The bam- 58] Field of semh 84/349 boo tubular pipe is provided with a mouth or aperture through a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of the foot 56 R I cmd inserted thereinto,v and the recess formed in the member ter- 1 v e mnces minates in a slit defined by a languid and a lower lip, the slit I i being adapted to direct a sheet of air toward a peripheral edge UNITED STTES PATENTS I of the mouth of the tubular pipe to produce a tone. The l, 74,098 3/ l 9 l 6 Stahl ..84/349 member preferably is'formed of a pair of tapered boards, one l,327,996 l/ l 920 Haskell ....84/349 0f which is slidable relative to the other, and the tubular pipe 1.33 l ,258 2/ l 920 Hedges ....84/349 preferably has an adjustable vane therein for adjusting the 1,45 8 .3 pitch'of the tone.

6/ l 923 Barkstrom .4 "84/349 12 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures i Ill IV 25 p j:

BAMBOO ORGAN PIPE ASSEMBLY This invention relates to an organ pipe assembly, and more particularly to an improved construction of a bamboo organ pipe assembly.

In recent years, pipe organs utilizing bamboo organ pipes have been put to use. Bamboo is endowed with natural beauty, and so a bank of organ pipes made of bamboo presents a more aesthetic appeal than a bank of organ pipes made of metal. The conventional bamboo organ pipe has the same construction as that of the conventional metallic organ pipe.

Namely, the conventional bamboo organ pipe comprises a tubular foot having an air passage formed therein lengthwise thereof, a tubular bamboo pipe or resonator into which the tubular foot is inserted with a spacer therebetween for providing an airtight fit, the bamboo pipe being provided with a mouth or aperture through a part of peripheral wall thereof adjacent the inner end of the foot, lower and upper lips, one end of each lip being secured to opposite peripheral edges of the mouth along the lengthwise direction of the tubular pipe, the other end of each lip being disposed inside the pipe with a relatively small spacing therebetween, and a tapered languid which is fixed on a block attached inside the pipe in a confronting relation with the lower lip and defines a slit with the lower lip facing toward the upper lip.

With the bamboo organ pipe as mentioned above, air is supplied into the air passage of the tubular foot from a windchest of the pipe organ and then passes through the slit defined by the lower lip and the languid to impinge upon the upper lip. A tone is produced when a sheet of air impinges upon the upper lip.

As is seen from the above description, manufacture of such a prior art bamboo organ pipe includes a process of forming a mouth in the bamboo which requires especially precise workmanship because of the construction of the upper and lower lips. However, since bamboo pipes are a natural product, and each pipe has a different sectional shape, it is relatively difficult to use a machine for forming a mouth in the bamboo, and thus formation of the mouth necessitates such difficult manual work which requires an experienced worker having advanced skills. Additionally, such operations are very time consuming.

Further, a block and a languid are necessary to be fixed inside the tubular pipe as described above and the work of fixing them is very hard with respect to bamboo pipes having a relatively small inner diameter among a number of pipes for a pipe organ. The smallest inner diameter of pipe among a bank of organ pipes is as small as about mm.

It is an object of this invention to provide a bamboo organ pipe assembly which can .be more easily manufactured than the conventional bamboo organ pipe assembly.

It is another object of this invention to provide a bamboo organ pipe in which an air flow directing toward a pipe mouth is easily adjustable to obtain a desired tone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to this invention there is provided a bamboo organ pipe assembly comprising a tubular foot having an air passage formed therein for directing air from one end thereof toward a peripheral portion thereof, a tubular organ pipe of bamboo into which the foot is airtightly inserted, the pipe being provided with a mouth at a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of the foot, and a member attached to the peripheral portion of the tubular pipe and provided with a recess communicating with the air passage formed in the foot for receiving the air from the air passage and a slit formed at one end of the recess and adapted to direct the air outwardly of the recess, the slit being disposed to face toward a peripheral edge of the mouth, thereby producing a tone upon impingement of the air directed through the slit upon the peripheral edge of the mouth.

The member is preferably formed by a pair of oppositely tapered boards, one of which has said recess therein, the

recess terminating in said slit. Further, a rotatable vane may be mounted in the tubular pipe for fine adjusting of the pitch of the tone to be produced.

This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in connection with to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating one embodiment of a bamboo organ pipe assembly according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line III-III of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line IV-IV of FIG. I.

With reference to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 denotes a bamboo tubular pipe or resonator of a pipe organ having a predetermined length. The tubular pipe has a rectangular opening 2 formed in a prescribed length extending from one end to an intermediate part thereof so that both lateral edges 3 and 4 of the opening 2 are flat and flush with each other as shown in FIG. 3. A tubular foot 5 made of wood such as birch, maple or the like is inserted into the tubular pipe 1 from one end thereof and secured airtightly thereto. The inner end of the foot 5 is positioned at an intermediate portion of the opening 2 of the tubular pipe 1 as shown in FIG. 1. An exposed portion 6 of the foot 5 between the lateral edges 3 and 4 of the opening 2 is formed into a flat surface flush with the lateral edges 3 and 4. Inthe foot 5 there is formed a foot hole or air passage 7 which extends from the outer end of the foot and terminates in the flattened portion 6 thereof as shown in FIG. 1.

Air is supplied from a windchest (not shown) into the air passage 7 of the foot 5 and directed outwardly of the tubular pipe 1.

There is provided means 8 for controlling amount of air to be supplied into the air passage 7 of the foot 5, for example, an adjustable screw protruding into the air passage 7 adjacent the outer endof the foot 5.

A flat board 9 made of ebony, for instance, is attached to a peripheral portion of the tubular pipe 1 so as to fit onto the opening 2, the flat board 9 being-provided with an aperture 10 communicating with the air passage 7 of the foot 5 and also a resonating hole or mouth 11 adjacent'the inner end of the foot 5. The mouth 11 is a circular hole and at least one peripheral edge thereof opposite to the inner end of the foot 5 is bevelled to a sharp edge as shown in FIG. 1.

' A first tapered or wedge-shaped board 13 whose thickness gradually reduces from one end near the outer end of the foot 5 toward the opposite end'lengthwise of the tubular pipe 1 is attached onto the flat board 9 by suitable means such as screws or nails 15A and 158 having a length sufficient to penetrate into the foot 5 through'the flat board 9, the first board 13 being so disposed that its thinnest end 14 is positioned at the center of the mouth 11. The thinnest end 14 of the first board [3 acts as a lower lip. The first board has an aperture 16 formed therethrough communicating with the air passage 7 of the foot 5 through the aperture 10 of the flat board 9.

A second tapered or wedge-shaped board 17 whose thickness gradually reduces toward one end near the outer end of the foot 5,contrary to the first tapered board 13,is attached onto the first board 13 with the thickest end thereof placed on the thinnest end 14 of the first board 13. The second board 17 has a recess-18 formed therein communicating with the air passage 7 of the foot 5 through the aperture 10 of the flat board 9 and the aperture 16 of the first board 13, the recess 18 extending to the thickest end of the second board 17 in parallel with the tapered surface of the first board 13. The second board 17 is fixed onto the first board 13 by screws 20A and 20B penetratinginto the flat board 9 through slots 19A and 198 formed through the second board 17 and the first board 13. As will be easily understood, the second board 17 is permitted to slide on the first board 13 owing to the slots 19A and 193. This feature will be described later.

A supplementary board 21 is fixed to the thickest end of the second tapered board 17 by a suitable means such as screws 22. The upper end of the supplementary board 21 faces the thinnest end 14 of the first tapered board 13 and is bevelled to define a slit 23 with the thinnest end 14 of the first tapered board 13 acting as lower lip as aforesaid, the supplementary board 21 acting as a languid.

The bevelled edge 12 of the mouth 11 formed through the flat board 9 which faces to the slit 23 defined by the lower lip 14 and languid 21 acts as an upper lip.

Adjacent the other end of the tubular bamboo pipe 1 opposite to the end thereof fitted with the foot 5,there is provided a vane 24 for adjusting pitch of a tone to be produced, the vane 24 being attached to a rotatable rod 25, one end of which projects outwardly of the tubular pipe 1.

With the organ pipe assembly constructed as above, a tone is produced when air directed through the slit 23 impinges upon the upper lip 12, causing a vibration in the air column in the tubular pipe 1. In this case adjustment of amount of air to be supplied into air passage 7 of the foot by means of the adjustable screw 8 permits variation of the volume of a tone to be produced.

As mentioned above, since the second board 17 is permitted to slide on the first board 13, the relative positional relationship between the upper lip 12 and the slit 23 can be adjusted. As a consequence, the ratio of the amount of air flowing into the tubular pipe 1 to the amount of air flowing away from the tubular pipe 1 may be varied to establish an optimum course of air flow to produce a desired tone.

Although the pitch of a tone to be produced is substantially determined by the length of the tubular pipe 1, fine adjustment of the pitch can be effected by controlling the inclination of the vane 24 which is adapted to regulate an opening formed in the other end of the tubular pipe 1.

With the foregoing description, though the rectangular opening 2 was cut in the bamboo tubular pipe 1, a flattened portion may be formed by retaining a part of thickness of the bamboo instead of cutting through the bamboo to form the opening 2. In this case the flat board 9 is not necessary and thus the aperture 10 and the mouth 11 would be formed in th flattened portion of the bamboo.

As described above,according to this invention, since a lower lip and a languid to define a slit therebetween which are major components in constituting an organ pipe assembly are disposed outside the tubular bamboo pipe, it is not necessary to carry out such precise troublesome fabrication work as is required in the conventional bamboo organ pipe assembly.

What is claimed is:

l. A bamboo organ pipe assembly comprising:

a tubular foot member having an air passage formed therein for directing air from one end thereof toward a peripheral portion thereof;

a tubular pipe of bamboo into which said foot is airtightly inserted, said bamboo pipe having a mouth at a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of said foot; and

first and second tapered boards, said first tapered board having a thickness reducing toward said mouth and having an aperture formed therethrough, said first tapered board being mounted to said tubular pipe with said aperture communicating with said air passage of said foot, said second tapered board being disposed on said first board and having a thickness reducing in an opposite direction with respect to said first board, said second board having a recess formed therein communicating with said air passage of said foot through said aperture formed in said first tapered board for receiving air from said air passage of said foot, said recess terminating in a slit defined by the thinnest end of said first board and the thickest end of said second board, said slit being disposed to face a peripheral edge of said mouth,thereby producing a tone upon impingement of air directed through said slit upon said peripheral edge of said mouth. 2. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 wherein said peripheral edge of said mouth upon which said air impinges to produce a tone is bevelled.

3. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 including a flat board attached to the peripheral portion of said tubular pipe, said flat board having an aperture formed therethrough communicating with said air passage of said foot for directing air to said recess formed in said first tapered board, said flat board having said mouth formed therein adjacent said inner end of said foot.

4. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 including a vane rotatably mounted in said tubular pipe adjacent one end thereof for fine adjustment of the pitch of a tone to be produced.

5. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 wherein said second tapered board is slidably attached onto said first tapered board.

6. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 wherein said slit is defined by a supplementary board attached to said thickest end of said second tapered board, and said thinnest end of said first tapered board.

7. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 6 wherein one end of said supplementary board to define said slit with said thinnest end of said first tapered board is bevelled.

8. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 including means for controlling the amount of air to be supplied into said air passage of said foot for varying the volume of a tone to be produced.

9. A bamboo organ pipe assembly comprising:

a tubular foot member having an air passage formed therein for directing air from one end thereof toward a peripheral portion thereof;

a tubular pipe of bamboo into which said foot is airtightly inserted, said bamboo pipe having a mouth at a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of said foot;

a member attached to the peripheral portion of said tubular pipe and having a recess therein communicating with said air passage formed in said foot for receiving said air from said air passage, said member having a slit formed at one end of said recess adapted to direct said air outwardly of said recess, said slit being disposed to face a peripheral edge of said mouth, thereby producing a tone upon impingement of airdirected through said slit upon said peripheral edge of said mouth; and

a vane rotatably mounted in said tubular pipe adjacent one end thereof for fine adjustment of the pitch of the tone produced.

10. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 9 including a flat board attached between said member and the peripheral portion of said tubular pipe, said flat board having an aperture formed therethrough communicating with said air passage of said foot for directing air to said recess formed in said member and having said mouth formed therein adjacent said inner end of said foot.

11. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 9 including means for controlling the amount of air to be supplied into said air passage of said foot for varying the volume of a tone to be produced.

12. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 9 wherein said peripheral edge of said mouth upon which said air impinges to produce a tone is bevelled. 

1. A bamboo organ pipe assembly comprising: a tubular foot member having an air passage formed therein for directing air from one end thereof toward a peripheral portion thereof; a tubular pipe of bamboo into which said foot is airtightly inserted, said bamboo pipe having a mouth at a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of said foot; and first and second tapered boards, said first tapered board having a thickness reducing toward said mouth and having an aperture formed therethrough, said first tapered board being mounted to said tubular pipe with said aperture communicating with said air passage of said foot, said second tapered board being disposed on said first board and having a thickness reducing in an opposite direction with respect to said first board, said second board having a recess formed therein communicating with said air passage of said foot through said aperture formed in said first tapered board for receiving air from said air passage of said foot, said recess terminating in a slit defined by the thinnest end of said first board and the thickest end of said second board, said slit being disposed to face a peripheral edge of said mouth,thereby producing a tone upon impingement of air directed through said slit upon said peripheral edge of said mouth.
 2. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 wherein said peripheral edge of said mouth upon which said air impinges to produce a tone is bevelled.
 3. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 including a flat board attached to the peripheral portion of said tubular pipe, said flat board having an aperture formed therethrough communicating with said air passage of said foot for directing air to said recess formed in said first tapered board, said flat board having said mouth formed therein adjacent said inner end of said foot.
 4. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 including a vane rotatably mounted in said tubular pipe adjacent one end thereof for fine adjustment of the pitch of a tone to be produced.
 5. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 wherein said second tapered board is slidably attached onto said first tapered board.
 6. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 wherein said slit is defined by a supplementary board attached to said thickest end of said second tapered board, and said thinnest end of said first tapered board.
 7. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 6 wherein one end of said supplementary board to define said slit with said thinnest end of said first tapered board is bevelled.
 8. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 1 including means for controlling the amount of air to be supplied into said air passage of said foot for varying the volume of a tone to be produced.
 9. A bamboo organ pipe assembly comprising: a tubular foot member having an air passage formed therein for directing air from one end thereof toward a peripheral portion thereof; a tubular pipe of bamboo into which said foot is airtightly inserted, said bamboo pipe having a mouth at a peripheral portion thereof adjacent the inner end of said foot; a member attached to the peripheral portion of said tubular pipe and having a recess therein communicating with said air passage formed in said foot for receiving said air from said air passage, said member having a slit formed at one end of said recess adapted to direct said air outwardly of said recess, said slit being disposed to face a peripheral edge of said mouth, thereby producing a tone upon impingement of air directed through said slit upon said peripheral edge of said mouth; and a vane rotatably mounted in said tubular pipe adjacent one end Thereof for fine adjustment of the pitch of the tone produced.
 10. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 9 including a flat board attached between said member and the peripheral portion of said tubular pipe, said flat board having an aperture formed therethrough communicating with said air passage of said foot for directing air to said recess formed in said member and having said mouth formed therein adjacent said inner end of said foot.
 11. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 9 including means for controlling the amount of air to be supplied into said air passage of said foot for varying the volume of a tone to be produced.
 12. The organ pipe assembly according to claim 9 wherein said peripheral edge of said mouth upon which said air impinges to produce a tone is bevelled. 